1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to urinals in general and primarily those for use by females. The female urinal fixture has particular utility in speeding up the process and shortening the lines to women""s restrooms at high-attendance events.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Anyone attending a major sporting event or concert has observed the relatively long lines outside the women""s restrooms as compared to men""s restrooms. This has partly be attributed to the fact that the urinals in the men""s restroom require less space than do the commodes in the women""s restroom, thereby providing more stations and a higher throughput for the men.
The use of female urinals is known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,940 to Jones discloses a urinal for use by female individuals. However, the Jones ""940 patent does not provide a free-standing structural fixture, but has the drawback of requiring that the individual use a flexible hose and funnel coupled into a urinal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,598 to Jones discloses a urinal for use by females that also requires the use of a flexible hose connected to the urinal. However, the Jones ""598 patent does not disclose a free-standing structural fixture that is used directly, but has the further drawback of requiring the use of a flexible hose with a flared funnel-like end.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,222 to Jones discloses urinals that again use a hose and funnel configuration. However, the Jones ""222 patent is different in structure from the present invention in that it requires the use of a flexible hose and funnel arrangement, and cannot be used as a stand-alone urinal as in the case of men""s urinals.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,110 to Kapit discloses a portable unisex urinal that may be considered relevant to the disclosed structural aspects of the present invention. However, there are significant structural differences between the presently disclosed invention and the Kapit ""110 patent, which has emphasis on portability.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,202,225 to Beck et al. and U.S. Pat. No. Des D201,120 to Robare relate to urinals in general and may be of general interest and pertinent to the construction and design of the present invention.
However, the above-mentioned patents to Jones ""940, Jones ""598, Jones ""222, and Kapit ""110 have structural differences, whether reviewed individually or in combination, from the present invention.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a free-standing urinal for use by females that allows the convenience of those used by males. The Jones ""940, Jones ""598, and Jones ""222 patents make no provision for a free-standing urinal, but all require the use of a flexible hose and funnel configuration, and the Kapit ""110 patent describes a portable urinal.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved female urinal that can be walked up to and used without the need of ancillary apparatus. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the female urinal fixture according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of speeding up the time required for women to visit the restroom at high-attendance public events.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of urinals for females now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved female urinal fixture, and overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved female urinal fixture, which has all the advantages of the prior art mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a female urinal fixture, that is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the preferred embodiment of the present invention essentially comprises a porcelain or stainless steel urinal bowl that mounts to the wall and has a narrow front extension outward from the bowl, which allows a female user to have convenient access above the bowl. The narrow front part of the bowl will be no more than six inches wide so the user can easily straddle the bowl. The bowl has a fresh water supply, which supplies water through a plurality of holes underneath the upper rim opening of the bowl, and has a series of drain holes which empties the urine and water into the connected sewer drain when flushed by means of a hand or foot lever-operated mechanism mounted to the bowl. An optional horizontal hand-rail is provided above the urinal, as are padded metal knee supports that extend from each side of the urinal and supported by supports rods extending down to the floor, thereby providing additional body support to help prevent slipping or falling while using the urinal. Toilet paper is provided nearby and can be disposed of by maceration or other paper disposal means.
A second embodiment of the present invention has a water reservoir built into the urinal bowl and a larger drain opening for conveniently flushing of toilet paper from the bowl directly into the drain.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated.
There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims attached.
Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In this respect, before explaining the current embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a new female urinal fixture that provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved female urinal fixture that may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved female urinal fixture that has a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to commercial plumbing suppliers and the consuming public, thereby making such urinal fixtures economically available to the buying public.
Lastly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved female urinal fixture that will help alleviate the long lines outside women""s restrooms at public events. Although, the use of the urinal will require about the same amount of time as the use of a standard commode, the space required will be less since the stalls can be somewhat smaller, and therefore the number of stations can be increased.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty that characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.